I-80 reopens after chicken truck crash shut down westbound lanes in San Pablo

A live chicken flees from a Highway Patrol officer attempting to capture it after a big rig hauling poultry overturned in a traffic collision closing all lanes of westbound Interstate 80 for several hours at San Pablo Dam Road in San Pablo, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019. A few hundred chickens survived and a few hundred perished.

A live chicken flees from a Highway Patrol officer attempting to capture it after a big rig hauling poultry overturned in a traffic collision closing all lanes of westbound Interstate 80 for several hours at

A live chicken flees from a Highway Patrol officer attempting to capture it after a big rig hauling poultry overturned in a traffic collision closing all lanes of westbound Interstate 80 for several hours at San Pablo Dam Road in San Pablo, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019. A few hundred chickens survived and a few hundred perished.

A live chicken flees from a Highway Patrol officer attempting to capture it after a big rig hauling poultry overturned in a traffic collision closing all lanes of westbound Interstate 80 for several hours at

I-80 reopens after chicken truck crash shut down westbound lanes in San Pablo

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Hundreds of live chickens had to be plucked off the pavement of Interstate 80 after an early morning big rig crash and fire that forced the California Highway Patrol to close all westbound lanes at San Pablo Dam Road for nearly eight hours.

All lanes were finally reopened just before noon.

While animal control officers chased hundreds of live chickens across the pavement during the morning commute, the California Highway Patrol issued a severe traffic alert for the westbound direction at San Pablo Dam Road in San Pablo. The driver of the truck suffered only minor injuries, according to CHP Officer Kris Borer.

The stretch of I-80 is consistently one of the worst commutes in the Bay Area and the nation, and the closure snarled traffic, backing it up past Highway 4 in Hercules — about 4 miles. Other drivers heeded advice to take alternate routes and crowded onto Interstate 680 and Highway 24.

According to the CHP, many of the more than 1,000 chickens aboard the trailer died in the crash and subsequent fire, which took place at 3:42 a.m. when a big-rig hit a concrete abutment near the San Pablo Dam Road overpass and overturned. Hundreds of chickens escaped their cages and scrambled about the area.

The CHP summoned Contra Costa County Animal Control to help corral the chickens and get them off the freeway — a task that took hours, said Steve Burdo, a spokesman for the agency.

“If you saw ‘Rocky,’ you know hard it is to catch a chicken,” he said. “Think of a lot of chickens running loose all over the freeway. The sheer number of chickens we had to impound is the most daunting part of the incident.”

The traffic jam was equally daunting for drivers. While the off-ramp to San Pablo Dam Road remained open, and drivers were able to cross over the road and use the on-ramp to get back on the freeway, traffic quickly came to a standstill.

Eastbound lanes were not impeded but gawkers caused traffic to slow and led to many near misses. That prompted the CHP to run traffic breaks and escort vehicles through the area at the peak of the commute.

CHP officials were unable to say Thursday afternoon who owned the truck and the chickens, where they were headed and what would happen with the survivors. Burdo said those who lived through the crash were packed into trucks, vans and even a horse trailer and taken to the animal control shelter in Martinez.

Animal control officials were expected to meet with the chickens’ owners to discuss what to do with the animals, many of which were injured.